Lot 1584 Dα

This puzzling composition is presumably an allegory. It depicts a white greyhound, the bust of a woman in an unusual headpiece, and a still life of celery, tomatoes, three lemons and a quail in the foreground. Dr. Marco Riccomini has recently attributed the painting to the brothers Bartolomeo and Domenico Guidobono.

It can be compared to several other works by the Genoese artists, who frequently collaborated. The figure in the right background of Bartolomeo's Allegory of Summer in the Palazzo Balbi in Genoa is very similar to the woman in this painting, while the white dog is comparable to that in Domenico's “Boy with his Dog” in a Genoese private collection, and was presumably based on the same animal (see Mary Newcome Schleier, Bartolomeo e Domenico Guidobono, Turin 2002, p. 78, no. M 13, tav. XIV; p. 139 , no. NM 10). It can further be compared to the Allegory of Youth in the Zerbone Collectia in Genoa (see Mary Newcome Schleier, Bartolomeo e Domenico Guidobono, Torino 2002, p. 139-140, no. NM 11b), in which the female figures are almost identical.

We would like to thank Dr Marco Riccomini for his suggested attribution to Bartolomeo and Domenico Guidobono, and we also thank Dr Mary Newcome for confirming it. Based on examination of a photograph of the work, Dr Newcome proposes that it was primarily painted by the younger brother Domenico.
The piece may be identical to the lost work “Diana Cacciatrice” (oil on canvas, 73 x 97 cm) auctioned in Rome in 1875 (Catalogo della vendita della Banca Popolare alla Cassa di Risparmio di Genova, Roma, Galleria Sangiorgi, 1875, lot 105).